rootofnewt | poodle update

I'm not terribly motivated to do anything right now. I have laundry to fold. I should make some food for tomorrow. I have very little appetite, so I have a rather blah headache and my reflux is worse than usual.

I guess it's not all that surprising.

We're declining to do transfusions for Jericho. A blood/plasma transfusion might help him get past the acute phase of kidney failure. Maybe. But we're still facing the fact that he will die of this condition in the next week, month . . .

Instead, we're going to keep him comfortable so long as he's happy with us. He's still not keen on eating and that's no wonder, he's likely nauseated (plus, the whole taste/smell thing is off with the kidney issues). We're somewhat darkly amused by this. I mean, the dog eats poop. Imagine how repulsive food must taste to him if it's worse than poop! He chased Ronan around for rice cake and rice bread just awhile ago. Not the best food for him right now, but hey--he ate it. Tom's out buying liverwurst and some 80/20 ground beef.

We will likely continue with fluids, perhaps. His bloodwork was worse today than two days ago. His demeanor and appearance, however, are much better. Poodles internalize everything, claims the vet. Jericho certainly lives to please, so it pains me to think that he's hiding his discomfort.

I think we will likely be opting for euthanasia within a few days. We're thinking of taking tomorrow and going for a nice car ride into the mountains, he still likes car rides, especially if we're not going to the vet. It depends on how comfortable he is tomorrow. He's comfortable now because he's had IV fluids all day. This morning, he was obviously in pain and stiff.